Ash on the Tongue
by Isolde Necrophilia
Summary: -REEVIE- Rufus ShinRa has been kidnapped and evidence suggests Wutai is involved. Yuffie, who has been in a quiet relationship with an ex-Turk, is taken by surprise when Reno returns to his career and tortures a member of the pagoda. As Rufus' kidnapping comes closer to home, Yuffie struggles to forgive her father and Reno while falling unexpectedly in love with Reeve Tuesti.


_**Ash on the Tongue**_

Though the amount of windows in Yuffie's home was limited, she always knew when the sun had risen over the mountains of Wutai. A monstrous and rather unpleasant at four in the morning "DONG!" would resonance across the otherwise silent red-clad village; she could easily roll over in the sheets and smash a pillow over her ears and resume to sleep, but soon thereafter, a buzz of voices would creep through thin walls and through the feathers. Like that wasn't exasperating enough, her friggin' boyfriend suffered some kinda undiagnosed illness in which when he awoke, he couldn't get back to sleep, no matter how much morning sex he talked Yuffie into having or how comfortable he got. Not like his little problem mattered much to Yuffie, but then he would insist that she wake, too, and, dammit, bells were so _dumb_.

On this particular morning, following the dumb bells and stupid people screaming at one another on the streets, Reno crawled from under the sheets he shared with Yuffie and stomped around for a bit, growling and cursing under his breath. Yuffie followed; she shifted to her side to face the wall and, rolling her eyes with her lids shut, hissed. "Whudder you doing?"

"Phone," he growled, awake but hardly a graceful presence in the early hours.

The petite ninja yanked the sheets over her head and crushed her face into the mattress. She held her breath and listened: somewhere underneath Reno's stupid huffing and clanging was a repetitive buzz sounding from the corner of the room. _Stupid phone on stupid vibrate_. She listened to it summon the redheaded ex-Turk, but when he failed to answer, it became silent – but only for a moment, only long enough for the person on the other end to listen to Reno's recorded message before redialing his number, letting the phone vibrate again. Yuffie slapped her hand down on the pillow and pushed herself up, like a serpent from the marsh, and dragged herself into a corner, all the while cursing her dumb, dumb boyfriend 'cause, dammit, doesn't he remember that he left the stupid friggin' thing in his pants pocket?

Finally, she extracted the device and pressed it to her ear despite his outreached hand. "Moshi-moshi!"

"…Yuffie, give the phone to Reno."

"Yeesh, well good morning to you, too. Gawd," a deep frown line pressed into her visage and she glared at the redheaded, who was pressing her with a half-amused smirk to compliment the bruises beneath his eyes. She handed him his phone and, like an undead creature, stalked back to bed.

"Rude, what's goin' on?" Reno's voice croaked. He stifled a yawn and lingered for a moment before falling onto the mattress, the back of his head using Yuffie's exposed stomach as a cushion. A desperate whining noise sounded from her chest, and she used her fingertips to push against his scalp, wishing he'd just leave the room so she could resume her beauty sleep. "WHA – ugh, yeah, umm… I'll meet you at our usual place, yo. Sorry 'bout Tits."

A soft click and a trodden yawn. "It's so _early_. Why-eeeee?"

Reno chuckled, his grogginess suddenly subsiding. "Dunno. Somethin' happened with Rude, so I'm gonna go down and meet 'im. I might be awhile,… don't wait up on me, yo."

Yuffie's lungs were already prepping for slumber by expanding, therefore, collecting deeper breathes. The digits which had been pushing against Reno's forehead relaxed, and subconsciously raked through the soft, uneven locks of hair resting atop his skull. When she awoke several hours later, she couldn't recall his weight ever shifting, nor could she recall bundling the blankets to substitute the warmth his body emitted; all she remembered was his whisper: _"I love you."_

She did, however, remember his excuse for leaving so early.

The ninja swung her legs from beneath the blankets and stumbled across the room piled with sitting cushions and dirty clothes; she proceeded with her usual morning ritual, and when she was finally cognizant, dialed Tifa's number.

"Hello?"

"Heya, Teef! How are yah?"

A soft, contained laugh. "I'm doing well, Yuffie… and how are you?"

"I'm friggin' tired! Reno got a call this mornin' from Rude; he said somethin' happened between you last night. I couldn't tell if it was because you two got it on, or if you broke his heart?" Yuffie waved her hand in the air as though the brunette was standing directly in front of her. "Reno hasn't come back yet, but I thought I'd call you –"

"Yuffie, I have no idea what you're talking about," Tifa said slowly. "I haven't seen Rude in weeks. I was with Cloud all night; we took the kids out and didn't get back until late, so I just went to bed."

Yuffie frowned. "But, he said… well, I'm pretty sure he said something happened with you two…"

"I'm sorry, maybe you dreamt it?" Tifa suggested, her tone fluctuating optimistically. "I know how you are in the morning. Remember when you told me that you thought you saw Vincent drinking someone's blood? Anyway, have you watched the news this morning?"

"Wha –?! I really did see him! I swear!" She pouted her lips and took a swig of orange juice from a small, plastic container. "I don't even have a friggin' TV. Godo banned 'em, swears they'll conjure monsters or somethin'."

"Well, I was actually about to call you. They announced Rufus ShinRa is missing as of one thirty this morning. The announcer claimed they have no further details. Does Reno know anything about this?"

The ninja pursed her lips. "Reno quit the Turks,… he said he wanted nothing to do with them," her voice was soft, perplexed. "There's no reason why they would call him. Rufus' new partner is Tseng; they still talk and all, but I don't think he'd be needed. He doesn't want to be involved with them. Even if they did, he'd tell me, right? Right? Ah, I'll call you back, Reeve is on the other line."

Yuffie swung the carton back to her lips and pressed the 'answer' button on her cell phone, raising it back to her ear. "Hey, Reevie. What's up?"

"Yuffie, I know you're on your time off, so you know I wouldn't call you unless I absolutely needed you," the commissioner began. The petite woman's brows pushed together with confusion; Reeve Tuesti's voice was always tinged with instruction and a trademark tenderness, but though she had only just begun to listen to him, even she, distracted by a possible betrayal of her boyfriend, noticed how desperate and drained he sounded; each word dragged a little and when he paused, she heard the sound of lungs being compressed by the weight of the world. She rested the orange juice on the tiny island in the center of the kitchen. "I'm sure you've heard by now that Rufus ShinRa is missing. We have been conducting a thorough search of since his disappearance was made official at one thirty this morning; we haven't been left with much, but some evidence has left us to believe that he was kidnapped."

Yuffie leaned against the said island and stretched the arm not holding the phone across it, puffing a tiny strand of hair away from her face. "Whose ass do I gotta kick?"

Reeve chuckled. "No one's, yet. Yuffie, I was actually calling you because the evidence suggests that the kidnapper may be someone from the pagoda in Wutai. Have you noticed any odd activity lately?"

Yuffie's eyelids fluttered and a frown pulled at the edges of her lips. "No, not at all. Things have been really quiet around here," she paused. "Exactly _how much_ evidence do you have, anyway?"

The commissioner sighed. "Not enough to send WRO troops there. We found a badge underneath Rufus' sofa with the pagoda's symbol. But that's all. Look, I know it's difficult for you to do this, but I know your people trust you. Your father is a friend of mine and Wutai has been on good terms with the WRO as well as the rest if the world; all I would like you to do is defend the only evidence we have."

The ninja fell silent. She didn't care much for Rufus. In fact, she still kinda hated the prick. Sure, he claimed he was reformed since he was nearly dissolved in the climax of the Jenova War and had apparently realized the devastation he and his stupid chocobo-faced father did to the planet and the life that lived on it. And he funded the WRO, which was probably why Reeve was involved, but the thought of him disappearing into the lifestream or being kidnapped by a bunch of punks did not affect Yuffie the slightest. But now that her home, her pride, was being involved? "He probably planted it there, y'know, and is faking it," she finally said, voice trembling with cresting anger. "He's probably just trying to make us look really bad and make himself look like a friggin' _victim_ –"

Reeve groaned. "Yuffie,_ please_."

Yuffie crossed her free arm across her chest, resting her hand on the crook of her elbow. Tears were brimming inside of her eyes, but it didn't reflect in her voice; instead, it sounded,… well, almost collected. "Fine. But only to prove that someone dishonored us and planted that there, okay?!" Her eyes squeezed shut and the angry tears dampened her eyelashes. "I'm sorry,… I'm being stupid," her lower lip rolled against the space between her teeth. "I'll talk to my father and the warriors in the pagoda. You've been up all night, huh?"

"You love your country, Yuffie, it's understandable," Reeve tried to assure her, but his gentle tone made her want to slink into a corner and disappear. He then laughed. Reeve had a thing for laughing in the most difficult situations; she supposed her inherited it by acting Cait Sith's sanguine personality for so long – except Cait's laugh was exasperating and sharp, whereas Reeve's laugh was full and musical, like its origins was an instrument instead of a human. "I suppose it's been a few hours. Don't worry about me; it may be a long day for you. Thank you again."

The call ended, but the phone's flat screen was still pushed against Yuffie's ear. There was a numbing sensation in her knees and a dull buzzing in her head; it was as though Wutai, with all its noise, had been ushered away by curdling thoughts. She was sure someone had set her father up; he was a peaceful man who would never dare to endanger his country by taking the chance of kidnapping an important political person. So who had set him up? Whoever it was, she wanted to punch him and then shove her shuriken up his ass.

Where the fuck was Reno when she needed him to hold her?

* * *

Yuffie equipped herself and raced silently to her father's home which was, inconveniently, empty; figuring he would be found praying or chatting foolishly inside the pagoda, she crossed to the small space and entered the multi-story building only to find the location of her missing boyfriend.

He lingered inside of the entrance dressed as she had first met him: clad with a blue uniform and an untidy button-up white shirt. He was standing in front of the wall across from the entrance door, back facing her, and in front of him was a man, who she could not yet recognize, but his weapon was holstered to the man's neck and he was practically being crushed underneath Reno's strength. Neither of the two men paid ode to her presence; assuming neither of them had therefore heard the creak of the hundred pound door opening, she closed it was as much grace as she could muster.

"I'll ask you one more time," said Reno, his indifference intact. "Where are you hiding Rufus?"

"Your stay in Wutai has expired," choked the man who Yuffie now recognized to be Gorki, the security of the pagoda. "We have tolerated you because of your relationship with Lady Kisaragi, but now you must leave."

"Heh. Fine," Reno withdrew his weapon from Gorki's neck, took a step to distance them, and raised the blunt weapon to the height of his shoulder. He intended to lash it on the old Wutaiian's face, but Yuffie grasped its rounded edge.

"No!" she shouted, her otherwise soft visage forming an acute mien. "Don't you touch him, Reno!"

Reno shot a haughty glare in her direction and shrugged her off, reluctantly distancing himself from his victim. "Yuffie, you don't know what's going on. Go home."

Yuffie's teeth grinded. She stepped between the two men and shoved her index finger in Reno's exposed chest. "What!? I know what's going on, Reno – Rufus is missing and they found evidence _we _are involved. But it was planted there, y'know!? Someone's trying to set us up! He doesn't know anything, okay, so why don't _you_ go home!?"

"That's what I thought too, _princess_, but I've been a Turk for ten years. I know when someone's hiding something," he seethed, pushing her aside to glower at Gorki, who remained as still and artless as a statue.

"You're wrong," Yuffie challenged. "You don't know him. You don't know us Wutaiians. When we say something, we mean it; we wouldn't lie –"

Reno snorted. "Yeah, your record really glorifies your honesty."

"Buh –"

"When was the last time you saw Godo? Two days ago? Where has he been, Yuffie? Where are all the rest of your little warriors?" Reno said haughtily, pausing only to give Yuffie a moment to contemplate his point. "Exactly. So why don't you back the fuck off and let me do my job?"

Yuffie was at a loss; true, her father was unusually absent, as were the rest of the members of the exclusive pagoda, but she had excused it as one of their rare vacations – and she still believed it. Their involvement didn't make any sense with Rufus' kidnapping. She cast her gaze to Gorki, whose eyes were closed, before stepping back reluctantly. She whispered, "What are you going to do to him?"

"Whatever is necessary."

"…fine. But I'm staying. To prove you wrong."

Reno nodded. Through his frustration, he remembered his affection towards the young woman: his words lost their apathy and the emerald green of his eyes warmed, like winter to spring. "It will be hard, and I will have to have you leave if you try to get in my way again."

Yuffie nodded. "Don't kill him."

The redhead took a deep breath before raising his weapon and striking Gorki in a quick lash that left him clawing the wall for support. Yuffie flinched and raised her knuckles to her mouth, parting her lips to gnaw her flesh when he struck again,… and again,… and again, until Gorki was moaning on the holy ground. There was blood dripping, but from where she couldn't tell; his face was red and swollen and his cheek, nose, and now eye were disfigured and ripped apart.

"Where's Rufus?" Reno asked, sounding jaded. The empty response brought tears to Yuffie's eyes and she sauntered closer.

"Please, say something, please. Gorki, just say _something _to end this! I know you're being set up! Tell him that!"

Reno released an exasperated sigh. "This isn't working, yo," he drawled and shoved his hand into the pocket of his slacks to retrieve a green orb. His arm extended towards the quivering man and his thumb caressed it, summoning the lifestream's energy to use the magic which was held inside.

Lightning.

The magic jolted through the warrior, causing his every limb to tremble with electricity until he unleashed a cry of agony and helplessness. Reno paused, repeated the question, and performed the magic again. It was draining Gorki's life from him before Yuffie's eyes; she could smell it, like burning decay. As Reno began to use the materia for the fourth time after not acquiring a satisfactory response, the ninja moved to grab the materia, but Reno jerked away and reflexively shoved his elbow into her exposed gut, knocking her to floor.

"You can't handle this," he said with more hostility. "Get out."

"Y-you're just _TORTURING HIM_!" Yuffie cried. "Stop! Just stop! If you love me, you'll stop!"

Before Reno could say anything more, the pagoda's doors were thrust open and standing in the daylight was two properly dressed Turks: Tseng and Rude. Reno swallowed, glanced at his hazy victim, and then to his colleagues. "Remove her. She is delaying the retrieval of information."

Both men reacted immediately and hooked their arms beneath Yuffie's, dragging her out of the pagoda, despite her wiggling and kicking and screaming. She tried to reach for her shuriken, but Rude took it from her grasp before she was able to stab someone's skull. They left her at the last step before returning and sealing the tall, heavy doors behind them.

Yuffie was still screaming.

When she was finally hopeless enough to stop trying to look for new ways to reach the sealed building, she pushed her hand into her pocket, finding her cell phone. Hands trembling, she nearly dialed five wrong numbers before typing Reeve's personal line; her voice was coarse; her cheeks, swollen; and eyes bloodshot when he answered: "Yuffie? Have you found anything?"

"Reno," Yuffie began but choked and sank to her knees when her throat coiled her words.

Reeve's optimistic tone suddenly sounded concerned. "Yuffie, what about Reno? Are you alright? Has something happened?"

Her fingers weaved into her dark hair and yanked until she was able to breathe once more. "They're _torturing_ Gorki! Tell them to stop, Reeve, he doesn't know anything! They're going to _kill _him! Where is everyone? _Where is everyone?_"

"Shhh, Yuffie, calm down, it's going to be okay. I will have the Turks dismissed and Gorki will be placed under the best of care," the commissioner cooed. Yuffie pushed her face into her hand, smearing her tears. "I believe you. But what do you mean, 'where is everyone?'?"

"Everyone – my dad! Where are they?" Yuffie screamed hysterically into the phone, rocking closer into her curled knees.

"I don't know, sweetheart," he answered honestly. "Where are you now?"

"Ou-outside the pagoda," Yuffie breathed deeply, trying to pull herself together. "He's _screaming_!"

"Okay. I'm in The Shera with Cid now; we're hovering over the Wutai area. I'm going to call Tseng and order him to release Gorki. I will call you right back, okay? And then we will pick you up and you can stay here for a while. I don't believe Wutai is the best place for you right now and maybe we can track down your father."

"No," Yuffie whispered, throat constricting tighter with rage. "Don't you hang up on me!"

"Yuffie," Reeve tried once more, sighing away from the receiver. "It will only be for a moment. I need to make that call if you want me to help your friend."

The vulnerable woman stared at the dissolving cracks in the steps below her feet. She couldn't recall feeling this hopeless since her mother passed in the midst of the Wutai War; her father was losing, giving up – and he tried so desperately to convince her that he was merely _giving in_ to a power much greater than they. She never believed him, not for a moment. Leviathan, she told him, would rescue them. But he never did. A mako reactor was built just outside the city's walls and a blanket of shame hovered around the rings of a sun which used to shine only for her. It was ShinRa's fault. It was always ShinRa's fault. Her life was allowed to gleam with sunshine until her eyes adjusted; then, it would be stolen away and replaced with something much more thick and heavy.

She extended her digit to the crack and traced it to the curve of her feet. "_I don't want you to go._"

Reeve was silent. She was being impossible, and she knew it, but she was childish. She couldn't be like Tifa who, instead of screaming, probably would've socked Reno in his face without a moment's hesitation. She wouldn't have called Reeve and if she had, she wouldn't ask him to stay on the phone with her until he was able to land. She wouldn't still be wishing Reno's arms wound around her waist. She wouldn't want to smell his cologne, hear his drawl, or thinking about how the red of the buildings mirrored the color of his hair. No, Tifa tolerated a lot of shit, but she was still independent and strong enough to listen to her instincts and take care of herself.

Gawd, she just wanted to _die_.

"I have access to Cid's phone. I can keep you on the line, but I will need to directly speak to the Turks. Does that work?" Reeve asked. If he was aggravated, she couldn't tell. She hummed a 'yes' and listened to the harmony of engines and voices from the airship until Reeve's cheery voice returned. "The Turks have agreed to end the interrogation. Everything is done! Gorki will be transported by a WRO helicopter to headquarters where he will be allowed to rest and recover."

"Thank you," Yuffie mumbled, wiping moisture from underneath her puffy eyes. "Gawd, this is so stupid. Everything was fine, y'know? And then _Reno… _did you send them, Reeve?"

"Yes," he answered tentatively. "Unfortunately we need to cooperate with them in the search for Rufus."

"But you have relocated them somewhere else, right?" Yuffie croaked, collecting herself slowly. The tears were no longer freefalling from her eyes, fortunately, but she still felt on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

"Yuffie…"

"Gawd, why not, Reeve!? Don't tell me you think Wutai is still involved! I don't _want_ them here! They're not friggin' welcome!" the ninja slammed her fist into the concrete and cringed from the jolt of pain that followed.

"Sometimes we can't always get what we want. I'll speak with you about it when you board The Shera – in just about a minute, actually – but evidence still strongly refers to someone holding Rufus captive from your country. They have been ordered not to use violent tactics, Yuffie, and they respect orders. I have faith that they will follow mine."

Yuffie's bottom lip folded into a pout and eyes began to cloud.

"Where exactly are you?" Reeve suggested gently.

She sniffed. "North side of the pagoda, on the steps… oh, I see you!"

A melody. "I will see you soon."

* * *

_**Four months ago. . .**_

"_You are not putting that in your mouth! Take it out, right now! Ew, oh gawd, I'm gonna get a friggin' infection! Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew!"_

_Hazy emerald eyes paused on the soft face which was Yuffie; her mouth was parted into a perfect 'o' and her fingers, too long for her short frame, were clawing her cheeks with horror. Reno mused quietly, his toothbrush gliding across his teeth which, despite over a decade of smoking, retained a white reflecting that of a pearl. The hand which had been tapping against the curve of the sink slung over her head, brushing over her short, dark hair enough to further reinstate the idea that she had been involved in a night of great, rough sex (which she had, of course); the gesture earned a nice swat to the shoulder and as she reached for the toothbrush which she believed to have belonged to her, he caught her wrist, twisted her body and yanked her against him so that her back was flat against his chest. Reno spat the excess paste into the sink, rinsed off his toothbrush, and placed a rather sloppy kiss to the back of her resisting skull. _

"_Did Godo-yodo never teach you about the benefits of brushing your teeth? No wonder your breath smells, yo," the redhead mused, resting the tool on the flat of the sink to wrap his arm around the curve above the younger woman's hips._

_Yuffie snorted. "He taught me to never share my toothbrush with other people! Now I'm gonna have to go across town to get another one, and –"_

_Reno's brow rose. "That's not yours, yo. It's mine. Yours is, uh, in the drawer. Where it always is."_

_Yuffie's doe eyes flickered with confusion and dropped to the third drawer lined against the wall beneath the sink. She slinked away from her lover's grasp to yank the handle only to be proven wrong: there, against a tube of toothpaste, was a toothbrush with a green handle beaming in all its Yuffie-ownership glory. Smacking her lips, she refused to acknowledge the undefeated smirk rising on the edges of the Turk's foaming lips. _

"_Yeah, well, yours is the same color as mine," she scowled, turning to face him once more. "Waaaaiiit, how long has yours been here, anyway? When did you bring it? Why? You can't do that here!"_

_Reno's brows rose. "So I'm not allowed to brush my teeth in Wutai? That's fucked, yo."_

_Unable to communicate her frustration with his inclination to invade her space, Yuffie merely thrust her index finger into his chest and spat, "Get your own color!"_

_The twenty-year-old then proceeded to skip down the hallway and into the bedroom she used to believe was her own. Reno glanced at his reflection before following her, intending to scuff her hair the old fashioned way: with more great, rough sex._

* * *

**A/N :** Firstly, I want to thank for helping to knit my ideas together, listen to me whine about my struggle writing this, and for editing constantly and assuring me everything was okay and pointing out flaws throughout this first chapter. You're amazing, woman, and I love you!

I've had this idea for months but I have been unable to write anything, really, because I don't have any experience writing something longer than a chapter or two. It's been bothing me a lot lately, though, so hopefully I will write all of the chapters instead of quitting after two! (;

I will touch more on some loose ends, including Yuffie's feelings toward Reno and Reeve's feelings toward Yuffie in the next chapter along with other things. I considered writing another section to this chapter, but it is long enough as it is, and if I write more now, I doubt I'll have anything to write later. I also want to assure everyone that yes, Yuffie is very hysterical and isn't as "in character" as she ought to be. I figured that because she cares immensely for Wutai and its people, the conflict between the man that she loves and her home would surface old feelings and leave her in a mess. Yuffie is a very emotional character, so I tried to portray her to the best of my ability. The same concept applies to Reno: when he gets serious about his work, his sleaziness wears down and he's actually quite the Turk (;

Thank you for reading and please, please review! It would mean the world to me.


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